A group of Turkish activists hacked into the Twitter account of a top adviser to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, posting messages of solidarity with a teenage boy who recently died as a result of injuries sustained during mass protests last summer.

The Twitter account of Mustafa Varank, one of Erdogan’s top
political advisers, was hacked Wednesday, Hurriyet daily reports.

Many messages posted on the hijacked account memorialized Berkin
Elvana, a 15-year-old teenager who died Tuesday after being in a
coma for 269 days. Berkin was struck in the head by a teargas
canister during the now infamous Gezi park protests that gripped
Istanbul in June. Berkin was not taking part in the protest, but
was rather a passerby.

Varank’s Twitter cover was changed to Elvan’s portrait, and
several posts accused Erdogan of being responsible for the boy’s
death.

“We know who Elvan’s killer is,” read one of the
messages, which also included a photograph of Erdoğan with the
inscription: “I gave the instructions to the police.”

Varank, who is known for embracing social media, regained control
of his account several hours later.

“After voyeurism, montage and blackmail, they have also
started to steal accounts. I think I have succeeded to get my
account back. I apologize to my followers,” Varank tweeted.

On Wednesday, clashes between police and protesters continued in
the Turkish cities of Ankara and Istanbul, where riot police
fired tear gas and used water cannons to disperse crowds of
people.

In Istanbul, where in late afternoon tens of thousands of
demonstrators, many chanting political slogans, gathered for
Elvan’s funeral, police used force to clear Taksim Square.
Clashes started in Osmanbey neighborhood near the Square right
after the service at the cemetery. The rallies followed similar
gatherings across Turkey on Tuesday after Elvan’s death was
announced by his family.

In Ankara's central Kizilay Square crowd of several thousand
demonstrators also protested the teenager’s death. Like in
Istanbul, police fired tear gas and water cannons.

The rallies followed similar gatherings across Turkey on Tuesday after Elvan’s death was
announced by his family.

More demonstrations are planned to ratchet up pressure on Erdogan
in the run up to the March 30 election. Nationwide protests and a
snowballing corruption scandal have proven to be the largest
threat to Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP),
which has been in power since 2002. Erdogan has blamed social
media as being at least partially responsible for his political
headaches.

On Wednesday, Erdogan said that holding massive streets protests
18 days before elections was against the spirit of democracy.

"Trying to set fire to the streets 18 days before elections
is not a democratic stance," Erdogan told a campaign rally
in the southeastern city of Mardin, Reuters reports.

"I appeal to employers' organizations, trade unions and NGOs
who are provoking incidents to show responsibility. Whoever has
problems should solve them at the ballot box on March 30."

The Turkish PM has long had an adversarial relationship with the
tech-savvy urbanites who form the backbone of the opposition to
his government. Days after protesters took over Istanbul’s
central Taksim Square following violent clashes with police in
June 2013, Erdogan called Twitter a “menace.”

"The best examples of lies can be found there. To me, social
media is the worst menace to society."

But his ire with social networks reached fever pitch when a
Twitter user named Haramzadeler, or ‘Sons of Thieves,’ used
multiple web-based platforms to leak information pointing to
graft and corruption in the prime minister’s inner circle.

“There are new steps we will take in that sphere after March
30... including a ban," Erdogan said. "We are determined
on this subject. We will not leave this nation at the mercy of
YouTube and Facebook."

Many analysts, however, believe social media has filled the
vacuum left by Turkey’s media, which has allegedly been stifled
during Erdogan’s 11 years in power.

In February, a journalist from Azerbaijan was deported for a
series of tweets that accused Erdogan of corruption and claimed
he was “destroying the Turkish democracy he built.”

Apart from alleged crackdowns on local media, Erdogan has also
targeted western media outlets, which he has often accused of
being “foreign conspirators” attempting to destabilize the
country.